Leaving a legacy: Arizona women’s basketball dominates Wyoming in WNIT Quarterfinals

The back of Arizona’s warm-up t-shirts read “#LeavingALegacy.” From the first meeting with the media this summer, Adia Barnes and her players have made that their calling card. It’s not just about today, this season. It’s about building for the future.

The WNIT is part of that project. Three postseason games. Three victories. It hadn’t happened for Arizona women’s basketball since 1996 when they won the WNIT. Could they push it to four? The Wyoming Cowgirls stood in the way, but not for very long.

Arizona dominated in a 67-45 victory in front of 7,717 fans at McKale Center. They held the Cowgirls to 31.4 percent shooting, including 16.7 percent from outside.

Aari McDonald led all scorers with 25 points. She added six rebounds, four assists and a steal.

Cate Reese had a strong third quarter when McDonald had to sit out with three fouls. Reese finished the day one rebound short of a double-double with 13 points and 9 rebounds.

Arizona rushed out to an 11-0 lead, shooting over 83 percent. Wyoming wasn’t able to break through until the 5:52 mark in the first quarter. By that time, Cowgirls’ starting forward Baliee Cotton already had two fouls.

Wyoming was stymied by the Arizona defense, looking at a complete loss on the offensive end for the entire first half. After scoring just 10 points in the opening quarter, they put up only five in the second. By the time half-time rolled around, Arizona had built a 26-15 lead.

The problem for the Wildcats was that the lead should have been bigger. After putting up 19 points in the first quarter, Arizona struggled to put points on the board in the second. They, too, scored in single digits, adding just seven points in the second quarter.

When McDonald picked up her third foul early in the third quarter, someone else needed to step up. That someone was Reese, who had nine points and four rebounds in the third after scoring only four points in the first half.

Wyoming picked up their own scoring in the third quarter, totaling 14 points—only one less than they scored in the entire first half. Arizona was barely able to win the quarter 16-14.

After the third quarter, the Cowgirls seemed to have lost what little fight they had. With 2:46 to go and a 63-37 lead, Barnes pulled her starters.

The Wildcats will next host Texas Christian University in the WNIT semifinals on Wednesday, Apr. 3 at 6:30 p.m. MST.

This story will be updated.

from Arizona Desert Swarm - All Posts https://ift.tt/2WD5Adn
via IFTTT